USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Iowa City > Reunion of the Second Iowa Cavalry Veteran Association, 1891 > Part 3
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A camp in the mountains, the pine-knot fire Drove the glo my shadows up higher and higher, "Till trees and rocks and the purling stream And the sun tanned faces were all a gleam With the ruddy glow of the dancing light, 'That shone like a gem in the setting of night.
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Around the fire sat a picture. que group, A small detail from a cavalry troop: Bronzed old soldiers, who knew no fear, Who had served as "Vets, " on that wild frontier: Who were used to the fray and the night alarms, From painted demons who came m swarms. Near by, their horses were cropping the grass That grew np wild in the mountain pass; And near to the saddle-pibowed head Of each grass-enshioned, blanketed bed Lay carbines and pistols near at hand, In easy reach of the seouting band. If the picket, who, up on the cliff, Inid low, Should give the alarm of the coming for, Around the camp-tive warriors throng,
Enlivening the hours with story and song ; And merry laughter borne ont upon the breeze,
Went rippling, echoing up through the trees.
Hark ! The sound of a horse's hoot's was heard Coming up the gulch like a fieeting bird, And the soldiers grasped their arms and stood With eager eyes peering into the wood. From the sombre shadows came dashing out A steaming horse and a buck-skinned scout. A scout from the Fort ! The bine-clad men Laid down their trusted rifles again, And stood and waited, with eager car, The news from the busy world to hear. The scout dismounted and, bowing his head, These four words whispered, "Boys, Grant is dead." There were trembling lips and pam-marked eyes, And tears and mutterings of surprise; But not n word was spoken until, In n trembling voice, old Corporal Bill Cried out, "Jaek, boy, don't say it is true; Don't say it is taps; it may be tattoo; Maybe he is waiting for orders to go, But tell us, Oh ! tell us, it is not so. Grant dead! Oh no, come, old Jack, Yes suy its n joke and take it back ;
* Yes please do, comrade, just crack a smile An' tell us you've galloped many a mile To have a little fou with the boys An' check for a while their camp-tire joys. Do this, comrade, and we'll laugh and sing Till the echo comes back with a merry ring. Too true! Ah, yes, I know by your look, Its as true as the words in the Holy Book; And if ents my heart like a knife. Why men, I've fought under Grant again and again, My of' commander back in the days When the South with the flames of war was ablaze. I've followed him over many a field Where smoke-blackened columns givered and reeled With the dreadful shock of an iron hail,
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That would make the face of the stoutest pale. I've followed him through the lead-blazed wood, Where the leaves were speckled with heroes' blood; An' ont over many a battle plain Where the ground was heaped with warriors slain, An' the pierein' rays of the sun was broke An' held in check by the clouds of smoke That poured from many an iron throat, An' hung overhead and seemed to gloat, Like black-faced demons from reahns of war, D'er the fearful carnage and death below, The npturned faces in death so pale, The wild, wierd song of the leaden hail, The quivering, mutilated flesh, The piercin' yells of the mad secesh, "The shriekin', howlin', screamin' shell .- Why men, it must o' looked like Hell With a million devils in impiste glee Turned loose on a holiday jamboree, An' right in the field dashin' here and there, Ilis horse sweating from every hair, Rode Grant-as cool as a mountain spring,
His keen eye watching the front and wing. A cigar, half smoked, in his teeth, his face With stern resolution in every trace. Wherever he rode the men would cheer, For it nerved 'em to feel that Grant was near; And they all knew Grant and loved him, too, And the General loved his boys in blue, And now he is dead, the grand old chief Has resigned his post to the last relief, An' it chokes me up for to think that he Should be taken and sich old fellers ns me Are left-sorter useless-here below In the land that loved the General so. Well, comrades, it was God as took him nway. He musters the blue, and he masters the gray; An' I reckon he needed that warrior grim To serve as aid on the staff with Him. And comrades, who knows, in that better land, But God may give him his old command."
MI. B. ALBROOK.
""WOMEN AND THE WAR."
Comrades.
I feel somewhat abashed in this presence to-night, for I have not gotten over a feeling of awe with which I used to regard shoulder straps in the years gone by. As I was sitting here to night I could not help recalling Major Moore putting me on duty for dereliction, which consisted in chopping off a stump in front of the Captain's headquarters I have often thought of that circumstance, and then thought that after a while when Major and I got out, I would settle that matter with him. But he looked too benignant at the meeting at Maquoketa, and I couldn't do it But he doesn't know that afterwards, when his attention was di- rected elsewhere that someone else chopped that log off for me.
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But not only do I feel abashed in the presence of these officers to-night, but l come before you very weary. Ileel a little like the farmer at the close of har- vest, or like the school teacher at the close of a hard term's work. I have just come from the Upper lowa Conference, where I assisted in fitting . thirty two preachers in thirty-nine holes," and have spent a number of days in the arduous Ltbors incident to such occasions. I do not intend to say very much I feel somewirit troubled because of my speech being called an address.
But to my subject. If we look at the work of the women in the war, we must saty thit justice has never been done "our better half " It is true that reference is made to the fair sex occasionally Yet I presume il it had not been for the mothers, wives, and sisters the war would never have been longht to an issne as it Was. We have had our share of honor, but men get distinction everywhere. Some of us get as much praise as is our due, and probably a little more.
[ The speaker then related a laughable little incident of the admiration of a German general, who happened to be viewing our boys as they were returning in divisions after the war. |
Said he to the bishop who was with him, as one of those fine divisions came up, "Bishop, dese soldiers could vip all Europe " Presently another line came up, and, as he viewed them in orderly array, and with the flush of victory in their faces, he said, "Bishop, dese soldiers could vip the world ! ' But after a while Sherman's gallant boys came along, and the German general, getting ex- cited, exclaimed, "Bishop, Bishop, dese soldiers could vip the teffil !"
I know that from all quarters we men get ample praise, and I would say that we are not worthy of it, if I did not wish to discredit the judgment of our friends on the outside. But these mothers, wives, and sisters, who stood with us during all of th it long and bloody war of the sixties, and who gave aid and encourage- ment to the boys to get them ready to go to the front, and then afterwards, when the call cime for three hundred thousand, they joined in the strain, "We're coming, Father Abrahim," and a little further on, when the cill cime for nve Imindred thousand men, they said to the boys and the fithers and husbands, .You go, and God bless you; and, if it is God's will, return to us again; if not, go anyway." I tell you, my friends. they made as gre it a sacrifice as we did.
| The speaker also mentioned the excellent part the girls took in giving nerve to the "beardless boys" who came to see them before leaving them for the held of battle, and then ended with the following story: ]
I heard an old chaplain tell a circumstance of th . Binks campaign An old fellow from lowa hid received a letter from home. He wis one of the very few who could not read writing. And after he had looked at it and bathed it in tears, he came ronnd to the chaplain and wanted him to reid it for him. The chap- lain sat down by a tree and commenced to read it. The wife told about the children, how they were getting along, and that sometimes they were having pretty hard times, and of the Leader not always being very full. She also told about a revival meeting and how john had become interested and wanted to pray, and when they got down about the family alt ir, how they prayed in behalf of John, of the country, and of the flag, and she said, "John, it was a precious season and the Lord blessel a; at that time. But on second thought, John, I would munch rather be deprived of your company and know you were down there fighting for the flag" -and the old fellow sprang to his feet and cried . Bully for Sal! Bully for Si !"
These missives from our dear ones nerved the arm for the conflict and made men strong for the de ens of the flag. These women are not getting all the credit they deserve. I remember how they worked up funds for dressing the men and caring for the sick, in order that they might help the boys in the front and on the field. And besides that, some of us happened to know of women whose hands, all unused to toil, took on themselves the work of the larm in or- der that more men might be sent to the front, that the flag might be defended.
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And so the women toiled and suffered alongside the men. And had it not been for these heroic sacrifices of these noble women I doubt whether we could have driven back the foe and proclaimed to the world, "Liberty and onion, one and inseparable, now and forever "
And the women haven't forgotten their work, but have gone alongside the men with their Women's Relief Corps and other good organizations, caring for the sick and suffering old soldiers and officers, and making them tolerably comfort- able in their declining days. And so these good sisters, these mothers and wives and daughters are ever full of good works, accomplishing what they can for those who have sacrificed so much. All honor to the women of America for their steadfastness and continued 'good offices toward the old soldier.
Another declamation was then rendered. This was the "The Veteran and his Grandson." Miss Hedrick declaimed this patriotic selection with much force and effectiveness and was applauded almost to an encore.
It may be here remarked that the two young ladies, Miss Hedrick and Miss Carroll, are daughters of veterans of the Second Cavalry.
The text of "The Veteran and his Grandson" is as follows:
MISS HEDRICK.
"THE VETERAN AND HIS GRANDSON."
Hold on ! Hold on ! My goodness, you take my breath, my son,
A firing questions at me like shot from a Gatlin gun.
Why do I wear this eagle and flag and brazen star?
And why do my old eyes glisten when somebody mentions war? Come here, you inquisitive raseal and sit on your grandpa's knee, All' I'll try an' answer the question you've been askin' me. Away back there in the sixties, long before you was born,
The news came flashing to us, one bright and sunny morn,
How some of our southern brothers, thinking no doubt 'twas right, Had pointed their guns on our banner and opened an ngly fight.
The great big guns were booming, the shots dying thick and fast. And troops all over the Southland were rapidly being massed, And a thrill went through the nation, a fear that our glorious land Might be split and divided, and ruined by a mistaken brother's hand. Lord ! But wasn't there excitement, and didn't the boys' eyes flash? And didn't we curse our brothers for being so foolish and rash? And didn't we raise the neighbors, with loud and continue I cheers. When Abe sent out a doenment calling for vohinteers? And didn't we flock to the colors when the drums began to beat? And didn't we march with prond step along the village street? And didn't the people cheer us when we got aboard the cars? With the flag a-wavin' o'er us, and went away to the war? I'll never forget your Grandma as she stood outside the train, Her face as white as the snow-drift, her tears a-fallin' like rain. She stood there quiet and death-like, mid all the rush and noise, For the war was a-takin' from her her husband and three brave boys, Bill, Charley, and little Tommy just turned eighteen, but as true An' gallant little soldier as ever wore the blue.
It seemed ahnost like murder for her to tear her poor heart so, But your Grandpa couldn't stay, child, an' the boys were determined to go. The evenin' before we started she called the boys to her side, And told them how they had always beon their mother's joy and pride, An', though her soul was in torture and her poor heart bleeding sore, An', though she needed her darlings, her country neede I them more,
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She told them to do their duty, wherever their feet might roam, And to never forget in battle their mother was prayin' at home. And if. and the tears nigh choke | her, they should fall in front of the fee, She'd go to the blessed Savior and ask Him to lighten the blow. Bill lies an lawaits the summons, neath Spottsylvania's sod; And on the field of Antietain Charlie's spirit went back to God; And Tonny, baby Tommy, we buried one starfight night, Along with his fallen comrades, just after the Wilderness fight. My child, that's why you see your Grandma with tear-drops in her eyes. That's why you sometimes catch her strivin' to hide her sighs. That's why, at our great reunions, she looks so solemn and sad ; And why her heart seems breakin' when the boys are so jolly aud glad ; That's why you sometimes find her, in the bedroom overhead, Down on her knees an' prayin', with their pictures laid out on the bed ; That's why the old time,brightness will light up her face no more, Till she meets her hero warriors, in that camp on the other shore.
Well, when the great war was over, back came the veterans true, With not one star missin' from that azure field of bine; And the boys who, on the field of battle, had stood the fiery test, Pormed parts of the great grand army, in the north, south, east and west. Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty, is the motto 'neath which they train, Their object to care for the helpless, and banish sorrow and pain From the home of widows and orphans of boys who have gone before. 'To answer their names at roff-call in that great Grand Army Corps.
And that's why we wear these badges, the eagle, the flag, and the star, Worn only by veteran heroes who fought in that bloody war; And that's why my old eyes glisten while talking about the fray, And why I call men "comrades" when I meet them every day ; And why I tell your Grandma I'm going to Post to night, For there's where I meet the old boy who stood with me in the fight ; And, my child, that's why I've taught you to love an I revere the men Who wear these badges and, if need be, would fight for their country again.
They are the gallant heroes who stood mid shot and shell, And followed the flyin' colors right down to the month of Hell. They are the men whose valor saved this land from disgrace and shame, And lifted her back in triumph to her perch on the dome of fame, And as long as you live, my darling, till your pate lips in death are mute, When you see that badge on a bosom, take off your hat and salute; And if any ofd Vet should halt you and question why you do, Just tell him you'vegot a right to, for your Grandpa's n comrade too.
At the close of thisrecitation the Glee Club sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
The final speech of the evening was the longest on the programme, but, being by that great statesman and beloved soldier, Colonel W. P. Hepburn, it is un- necessary to state that he held the fixed and undivided attention of his audience to the very last word He was received with a loud burst of applause, and it was some time before he could speak so as to be heard on account of the cheers. His address was a masterly discussion of the affairs of state and of the legislative world, and has rarely, if ever, been equalled on our platform.
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COLONEL HEPBURN.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my old comades.
On an occasion like this, at the reunions of the Second lowa Cavalry, all the membership of that association must have mingled emotions There are those that are joyous; there are those that are sad, and there are those, necess arily that are full of solicitudle We are gratified, because we feel as those men do who may look back over a life and find that at least one portion of it meets with ap- proval in the retrospect
No man, who has faithfully served his country, can look back upon thit period without a feeling of gratification. The thought that duty has been well performed always brings that feeling as one of its sure rewards. The men who passed through vicissitudes such as you did are entitled to that reward. The men who indulged in the sacrifices thit you did; the men who engaged in the heroic service that you did, are entitled to all of the joys that come through retro- spect over lives where there has been good service.
There comes, too, the feeling of gratific tion in ag an taking by the hand those who are bound to us so indi ssolubly in friendship It is in scenes such as you have gone through that these traits of character that bind heart to heart are dis- covered Through a whole life we may know our neighbors in a sense and yet not know them They may possess qualities, although they are under our obser- vation every day, that are entirely unknown to us; and that we have never recog- nized. But if you place that man by your side in the camp of an army; if you, during the vigils of the watchful night, in the presence of an enemy, test him as you can and will; if you march by his side day after day and long in the night in the country of the enemy, where every bush and every tree and every stump may hide a lurking foe; if you share your last biscuit with him; if you go hungry with him, and then observe how he bears himself, and the Fortitude he brings to the service, and that during all such trying periods there is never a word of dis- couragement, never a thought of failure, but that his every intent is to go on and on to the end, and that end the glory of his flag and country; if you march with him in the battle's line when the shot and shell are bringing death and ruin on every hand; if you see th it there is no flinching there, but that he is ready to go on to the line, and over the line, you then have an opportunity to test the man- hood and see the qualities th it are in him and that bind your he urt to hi for all time, no matter where you meet, and th it makes such meetings as this delightful above expression, because you know that the comrade is worthy of the clisp of your hand, and worthy to be taken into your arms and cherished
Then come, too, sad feelings. Every biennial renion brings up the old com- rades with new marks upon the fice and more gray hairs upon the head, and we feel that there are not in my years for us here, and the thought of the last reun- ion, the thought of the time when there will be no more reunions, when the last of the grizzled old veterans is answering the roll e il above, brings feelings of sadness that no one can well repress
And then there is something of solicitude. We remember, as some of the com- rades have said, the priceless sum th it was paid in order that the Republic might endure. We pass over our own part in it. We think of the more than four hundred thousand of the very flower of the nation thit lud down their lives. We may think of the billions of money that were expended in the war. We may think of the millions that were withshawn from the activities of business, and the cost of all that: of the four hundred thousand lives of men just in the prime of it, or at an avecige of twenty six years that had a prospect of a life of thirty. five yours, speaking conservatively; each one of them a producer of the nation's wealth worth four hundred dollars a year to the country for the period If you put all these together, you will see what a wonderful sum it wis, to say nothing of the sacrifice of the mothers; to say nothing of their prayers and tears, their watchful waiting and anxiety. If you could add ball that together you would see what a wondron . sam we paid in order that the Republic might endure
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And then comes the thought to ns that all this was necessary because out fathers friled to settle some of the great questions of statesmanship; that when they were forming this government, wie as they were, patriotic as we, and al- most inspired of God, yet, I say it reverently, that all their wisdom left questions for you and me to settle. The question as to whether or not, in a government dedicated to liberty, they coall be millions of slaves; in a government dedicated to equality, dire could be the master and his whip and the bare back of anoth- er man as the Centerpat of the picture; whether or not there was a power of a state, at it : own will, to break the circle of states, and to shatter the firmament of the stors that represented them, and to teu out from the flag the stripes that told of their being in the family of states; they left unsettled the question of whether or not a state thus forgetful of duty, and thus standing against the progress of the age, could be brought by the government to the performance of its oblig i- tion. They left the e questions to be settled by you, and, in their settlement what a merifice you were compelled to mike !
And with these thoughts of solicitude come others, when we remember that there are questions, just as portentous of evil as these crowding down now upon our tim .. Not auch, path ups, iny commandes, as you will be permitted to aid in the settlement of, but will fall to these boys that are by us to your boys and to mine: whether they can settle them so as to still preserve the unity of the sites and the institutions of the government and the liberty that belongs to each citi- een; this, Isty, is something that should excite thoughtful emotions in the minds of thoughtful men.
There comes pressing upon them to day, perhaps not to be settled in your time and mine- - the question of what are we to do with the myrinds of strangers that are knocking at our doors Between the taking of our census more than five millions of strangers came here. During the last year more than five hundred and fifty thousand came. It is probable that during the present year the non- ber will be raised to one million, one hundred thousand. They are not the class who came in those days when we had the pick and choice of the moving man- hoel of the old world, of whom we were glad to welcome almost every son, but they are now also coming from the eastern countries of Europe-from Russia, Poland, etc , -- people who do not come under the healthful circumstances of the olden time Then there were the broad acres of the west, smiling a welcome to
eich one who c une Here was a home and the possibility of anchoring these men to the soil, and through such anchorage came a love for the institutions of the country and a desire for their perpetuity. Now you will find that thirty five per cent. of all who come never move beyond the city of their deportation, and that there they are, herded together in a colony . the Hali ai, the Polander, the Russian and all. Now they come to a crowded labor market In the olden time there was an abundance of labor for all. Now they come, finding their condi- tion, after arriving here, but little better than it was at home, if any You will find in New York City a single inile of territory on which there are herded this night more than two hundred and seventy thousand human beings, being the most populous square mile by eighty thousand of any in the world
This i, a question that must be settled It is in such communities that anar- chism and soci dism are found and fostered. It is such conditions that make it possible for Henry George, Utopim as he was, to receive sixty-nine thousand votes, in the heart of a city and republic, for the highest office in the gift of that prople.
Then comes, too, the old labor question, as old as organized society. How shall the man that lebois and the man that hire, the laborer be able to make an equal and proper distribution of the products of the toil of the day and the Glji tal of the other? The earliest cases we have of organized society show te that it is a question of difficulty, and that it has never yet been solved. Yet; is it one that will ever be solved? The observation of every reader and every spectator of affairs to-day tells him that it is still to be solved. If you will stop to think,
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you will remember that every government that has a place in history has gone down bec iuse of the inability of its statesmanship to determine this question, and in my humble judgment, it there is to be wreck and ruin to the Republic, it will be because the statesmanship of the period cannot deal with that question.
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